FIFA to New Jersey: Drop dead

New Jersey taxpayers have been extremely generous when it comes to the World Cup. In exchange, the World Cup organizers have told us to kick rocks.

The latest indignity came Thursday when the nonprofit host committee helping FIFA oversee New Jersey’s World Cup matches joined New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani to announce that 1,000 tickets to the World Cup matches at MetLife Stadium would be given to New York residents at a cost of just $50, including bus transportation.

That’s a major discount. Tickets for the first match at MetLife in the 300s section are no cheaper than $1,858.78 on Ticketmaster.

Alex Lasry, the committee’s CEO, praised Mamdani for working with FIFA to secure cheap tickets for 1,000 New Yorkers.

“From the beginning, even before he took office, him and I spoke about the need to make sure that this World Cup was affordable and accessible to all New Yorkers. And today, the mayor is delivering on that promise, and we are excited to be a part of this and stand with him uh as he makes sure that all New Yorkers are able to experience the game that we love,” Lasry said.

For those paying attention to World Cup drama, Lasry’s comments were a not-so-subtle dig at Gov. Mikie Sherrill, who took office in January and has been less of a FIFA fangirl than her predecessor, Phil Murphy.

So why are New Yorkers getting discounted tickets to the World Cup while we’re getting stiffed here in New Jersey, where taxpayers have given the host committee a $15 million loan and another $15 million grant in addition to the hundreds of millions we’ve spent preparing and promoting the damn thing?

I wish I had an answer, but the Sherrill administration and the host committee are dodging that specific issue. Sherrill spokesman Steve Sigmund used the opportunity to take a shot at FIFA, saying “FIFA not caring about costs for New Jersey residents isn’t new,” while a statement from host committee spokeswoman Natalie Hamilton, a former Murphy staffer at the Statehouse, is a tap-dance, touting the host committee’s “$3.6 million transit investment to support New Jersey commuters,” among other things.

Very nice of the host committee to lavish so much on New Jersey with money we’ve given it!

New Jerseyans have every right to be angry that FIFA decided its unprecedented gift of discounted World Cup tickets should go to residents across the Hudson River instead of us. I don’t care if Mamdani bent the knee and Sherrill didn’t. New Jersey taxpayers are spending a lot on the World Cup, and we deserve more in return than first billing on one of the World Cup signs at MetLife.

I talked to Assemblyman Mike Inganamort (R-Morris) about this. Inganamort has been on a tear about New Jersey playing second fiddle to New York for the soccer tournament.

“The humiliation continues,” he told me. “First it was the name of the stadium, then it was going to New Jersey taxpayers to pay for the whole darn thing, now it’s subsidized tickets to New Yorkers. It is unacceptable for New Jersey taxpayers to subsidize access for another state’s residents while families in New Jersey are just priced out of attending events in their own backyard.”